The body of Nanette Krentel will be preserved so her family can set up a new autopsy to examine her death in July, when she was found with a gunshot wound inside her burning home. The decision to keep her body came as relatives and the St. Tammany Parish coroner reached an agreement Tuesday afternoon (Aug. 22), the Coroner's Office said.

A Wednesday court hearing at which Krentel family members were to seek a court order to preserve her body was canceled.

Coroner's office spokesman James Hartman said the agency will maintain custody of Krentel's remains so members of her family can bring in another medical examiner to look at the case.

Krentel, the wife of Fire District 12 Fire Chief Stephen Krentel, was found dead of a gunshot wound July 14 in their burned-out home off Louisiana 434 north of Lacombe. The coroner's office has not yet classified the death, which remains under investigation by the coroner, St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's Office and Louisiana Fire Marshal's Office.

In a court filing last week, Nanette Krentel's father, Dan Watson and two sisters, all of Iowa, asked the 22nd Judicial District Court in Covington for a temporary restraining order prohibiting the release of the woman's body. They said Nanette Krentel's death may be ruled a suicide and her body cremated, eliminating the opportunity for a second autopsy.

Judge Raymond Childress issued the temporary restraining order Friday and had scheduled the hearing Wednesday morning to consider an injunction, court records show.

Preston, in a statement Tuesday morning, called the legal action "unnecessary," saying neither Stephen Krentel nor the coroner's office objected to a second autopsy being performed.

A formal agreement was reached later Tuesday, Hartman said, though the document had not yet appeared in the online court record.

While authorities continue to probe the death, Nanette Krentel's family has started an online petition to raise money for their own investigation.

Gina Watson, a cousin of Krentel, wrote on the online petition, "Although we would like to rest easy knowing justice will be served, it feels as though we are fighting for Nanette's voice to be heard. We do not know how long this fight will take, but this is the fight of our lives."

Krentel's father, Dan Watson, has paid to retain an attorney, and the priority will be to push for the second autopsy, the post said.

The family will need to pay for a medical examiner, who has agreed to take the case, to travel to Louisiana and perform the autopsy, Watson wrote. The medical examiner was not named in the post, and Watson declined to comment beyond what was written on the petition.

The lawyer's retainer and second autopsy will cost $8,000 to $10,000, Watson's message said.